Certain types of material, such as cellophane, are typically stored and transported in cylindrical rolls. Shipping and storing a plurality of such rolls presents certain disadvantages, however, in that the rolls have limited stability when stood on end and tend to roll if laid on their sides. In addition, when the rolls are of a material such as cellophane which is easily damaged, they require a high degree of protection during shipment.
One approach to solving the foregoing problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,732, in which elongated elements having spaced indentations therein are adapted for protectively supporting and spacing a plurality of rolls of cellophane material. The elongated elements are placed between the rolls and a pallet, between stacked layers of the rolls, and on top of the stack, and the stack is then strapped to the pallet. This solution to the problem is relatively effective in practice, but has not been satisfactory in all respects. In particular, it has not proved to be sufficiently cost effective, because individually molding each of the elongated elements is expensive and time consuming.
Further, when the elongated elements are formed with a side wall along one side edge thereof to protect the rolls against damage to the exposed ends of the rolls such as is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,732, a problem exists in shipping these elongated elements from the point of manufacture to the point of end use. That is, the lands on the elongated members will not nest within the recesses without first causing one elongated member to become laterally offset relative to another of the elongated members.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide elongated members of expanded polystyrene which are adapted for protectively supporting and spacing a plurality of rolls of material such as cellophane in a multi-layer stack and which have an end wall structure adapted to nest within a recess without any need to laterally offset one elongate member relative to an associated other elongate member.